Graduate Forms

Waiver of College Regulations Petition

If you are submitting a Waiver of College Regulations Petition form, please follow the instructions below:

STEP 1: Student fills out the petition form electronically: https://registrar.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/collegewaiver_1.pdf 

  • Make sure Course information is correct.  
  • Check only 1 box. If you need to submit multiple petitions, use different forms. 
  • Send form from your SFSU email to Instructor’s SFSU email for approval 
  • Note: you DO NOT have to sign the form if it is being sent from your official SFSU email account. 
  • PLEASE USE THIS PATTERN AS THE SUBJECT LINE FOR YOUR EMAIL:
    NAME – SFSU ID# (ex. John Doe - 912345678) 

STEP 2: Instructor receives form and forwards approval to the CS Office 

  • Forward approval with an “I approve” from the instructor’s official SFSU email to cs-dept@sfsu.edu
    Note: instructors DO NOT need to sign the form if it is being sent from their official SFSU email account. 

STEP 3: Office checks if all the above is correct and then forwards to Department Chair 

  • Put * after ID# in email title for everything except “Repeat a course after maximum attempts or in excess of unit repeat limits” 
  • Forward to Dept. Chair and cc student 

STEP 4: Department Chair will forward approval to Registrar’s to process 

If you do not complete all instructions in Step 1 correctly, the CS Office will reroute your petition form back to your email for you to correct.

Has my petition been approved/processed?

If you have been cc'd in the email with approval from the Dept. Chair to the Registrar's, your form has been sent to the Registrar's to process your petition. If you have not, the office is most likely waiting on the Instructor to send their approval. The Registrars Office will provide updates to your petition to your SFSU email.

CSC 699-899 Independent Study

If you are submitting a Petition for Course by Independent Study 699-899 Form, please follow the instructions below:

Faculty approval is required for CSC 699-899. Students are encouraged to proactively reach out to CS faculty members with whom they have a prior connection, such as professors from classes where they have performed well.

Once a student and faculty member reach an agreement to pursue CSC 699-899, a formal Petition for Course by Independent Study form must be completed. This form serves to document a shared understanding of the student's learning objectives, project scope, and grading criteria. CSC 699-899 counts as a Computer Science elective.

STEP 1: The student downloads the form, reaches an agreement with a faculty supervisor as to content

STEP 2: The student then completes and signs the form and emails it to the faculty supervisor

STEP 3: The faculty supervisor then signs the form and sends it to the CS Department Chair

STEP 4: The CS Department Chair signs the form and sends it to the CS Department Office staff

STEP 5: The CS Department staff will retain a copy, and then forward the final signed copies to the student and faculty supervisor

STEP 6: The faculty supervisor then issues a permission number to the student to enroll in the course